Your Guide to Writing a Killer Thriller

How to write dazzling dialogue?

Dialogue is a key part of every story. It speeds up the story, your characters get a chance to speak for themselves and it even breaks up long paragraphs – dialogue does all that and more. Readers – especially on 抖阴社区 – love dialogue.

And, it is fun to write.

Dialogue can also make or break your story, so here are some tips on how to write it well.

First of all, for your characters to have an authentic voice they need to be solid and credible characters . Okay, this means we probably need another chapter on Characters and Viewpoints. For the moment, it might be enough to note that before your protagonists open their mouths you need to have given them a shape, a face, quirks, characteristics, flaws. They need to be 3-D human beings. Even if you're writing fantasy thrillers .

For your readers are human, and that's what counts. They want to read about people they can relate to. People they care for, they want to learn more about. If you don't engage your readers from the start, they might not even make it to the dialogue.

You don't solve this challenge by telling us somebody is 7ft 9 inches tall, has fantastic abs and wears tight jeans. That is only one dimension of your character. We also need to know what's going on in the head of that person before he (I assume that would be a he) opens his mouth. Their backstory, their mindset - all that makes for the second dimension. You need to have thought of a history for this person, where he comes from why he is who he is. And no, you don't slap all that backstory into the first chapter. But first chapters is something else we will need to talk about.

The third dimension is the morals, their beliefs, the deeply ingrained core of a person. All this is behind the character, makes him sound the way he or she does. 

One way to solve this problem is to create a character map. Who is your main character, background, what does he/she want, what are the conflicts, who are the antagonists, who are the sidekicks, the walk-ons etcetera. The role a person plays in your novel defines what he/she says. And how much time in the limelight they get.

Okay, so you have created a 3-D character you know from the insight out. The person has a goal, a motivations, there are problems standing in the way and antagonists to cause problems. How does this influence dialogue?

A famous author who wrote a lot about writing, James Scott Card, once wrote "Dialogue is war." That pretty much sums it up. All your characters have their agendas and they will want to voice them. They are in their little life bubble and they are constantly bouncing against others. They are shooting across each other. Hopefully, only verbally. But all that will or rather: should show in your dialogue.

This is good dialogue

John: What are you doing in my car?

Ann: Oh, this is your car now, is it?

John: Well, I paid for it, didn't I?

Ann: And why does that make it your car? What I do isn't good enough, right?

This is not

John: Uh, What are you doing in my car?

Ann: Ah, I'm going to drive to the hairdressers, like.

John: Oh, I see.

Ann: Yes. I'm going to have a different hair colour.

John: Oh, how nice.

Ann: Yes, I'm looking forward to that.

John: Yes, me too.